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Google has released its 2018 report detailing its latest anti-piracy efforts, while copyright holders and lawmakers continue to press for more.
The report details Google's anti-hacking measures, including downgrading sites in search results and deleting pages after a valid withdrawal request.
But Google also uses this report to argue against search engine targeting of copyright withdrawals under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). And for the first time, it details the impact of Chrome's built-in advertising blocking on pirate sites.
In February, Google turned on the ad filter to target annoying and intrusive ads, such as pop-up ads and ads that appear automatically with sound.
Although Google has never positioned Chrome's ad blocker as an anti-piracy tool, there is anecdotal evidence that this feature removes revenue from hackers. According to Google, the ad blocker is an example of how it takes a money tracking approach.
Google highlights a report published in 2017 by the Torrent Freak File Sharing Information site, citing three torrent site owners who were already struggling financially due to third-party extensions of ad blockers used on Chrome. Chrome's built-in ad blocker removes the little profit that remained, feared some at the time.
"Google has joined the other industry leaders in the" follow the money "strategy to eliminate online hacking by eliminating the counterfeit Google advertising services and promoting advertising standards that are applicable across the board. sector, through groups such as the Coalition for Better Ads, "says Google.
SEE: 10 ways to increase your users' cybersecurity IQ (Free PDF)
"We've also built into the Chrome browser an ad blocker filtering ads for non-industry-standard web pages, based on anecdotal evidence suggesting that ads are disproportionately on counterfeit sites.
"The end result – a virtuous circle produced by better incentives for legitimate businesses – extends far beyond Google's own ad networks."
This is a preferable mechanism for the copyright removal process to conform to Google's processes for complying with DMCA.
Google has received more than 3.8 billion claims from copyright holders. Google uses valid queries to inform a "demotion signal" that ranks sites that frequently contain pirated content in search results.
Since the adoption of this signal in 2012, Google claims to have downgraded some 65,000 websites on piracy. By the end of 2017, it was downgrading an average of 500 websites in search results every week around the world.
However, the company also notes that it receives a large number of erroneous, factitious and "downright abusive" copyright removal claims. Last year, he refused to remove or reinstate more than 54 million web pages of his search results for these reasons.
In a submission to the US Copyright Office last year, Google explained how DMCA was a victim of widespread abuse. Law firms used software to generate millions of URLs relevant to copyrighted works that do not actually exist.
The requests have been submitted to Google without any of them appearing in their search index.
Google points out that the EU's agreement protocol on online advertising and intellectual property rights signed with the EU early this year is the way forward.
"Search engines do not control what's on the Web Hundreds of billions of web pages are organized in Google's index, new sites will always be devoted to the provision of works protected by copyright as long as there is money to be made. " Notes.
"Replication of these sites is easy and inexpensive, and attempts to remove them should be aimed at eradicating the business model that supports them." Law enforcement authorities and governments are increasingly recognizing it around the world.
"Rather than focusing on research, a" follow the money "approach is the most promising way to fight piracy."
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